Youth Hockey 5s Asian Championship: Indian men’s and women’s teams made a explosive start, recorded a spectacular victory in the very first match.

Muscat, Oman): The Indian sub-junior men’s and women’s teams made a great start to their campaign at the Youth Hockey 5s Asian Championship 2026. Both the teams performed impressively and won their respective opening matches. The Indian men’s and women’s teams have been placed in the elite pool of this tournament.

Women’s team defeated Kazakhstan 8-3

The Indian women’s team defeated Kazakhstan 8-3 in the first match of the tournament. Diya played an important role in the team’s victory by scoring a brilliant hat-trick (14th, 15th and 20th minutes). Apart from this, Sandeepa Kumari scored two (3′, 12′), Nausheen Naaz scored two (6′, 9′) and Neelam Topno scored one (7′). India controlled the match from the beginning and continued its aggressive play in the second half to ensure victory. For Kazakhstan, Dilnaz Nigmetzhanova scored two goals and Yasmin Seitzan scored one goal.

Men’s team defeated Bangladesh 7-3

The Indian men’s team also made a winning start by defeating Bangladesh 7-3 in their first match. Rahul Yadav (2′), Karan Gautam (4′), captain Ketan Kushwaha (8′, 14′), Romit Pal (10′, 15′) and Prahlad Rajbhar (16′) scored goals for India. The Indian team controlled the game throughout the match and responded effectively to every comeback attempt by Bangladesh. Noore, Sabbir Rahman and Mohammad Islam scored goals for Bangladesh.

Important tournament also for World Cup qualification

The Youth Hockey 5s Asian Championship 2026 is not just a continental title clash, but it is also being held as an Asian qualifier for the first-ever FIH Youth Hockey World Cup. In such a situation, this victory can prove to be important for the Indian teams as well as boosting their confidence in the path to the World Cup.